The present invention relates to the field of turbine engines, and more particularly to their lubrication.
In the present context, the term “turbine engine” covers any machine operating on the principle of transferring energy between at least one rotor and a flowing fluid. Among turbine engines, the present invention relates more particularly to engines having a gas turbine, and in particular to turboshaft engines, to turbojets, and to turboprops for aviation applications, for the purposes both of propulsion and of generating electricity.
In operation, turbine engines of such a type typically rotate at very high speeds, of the order of several tens of thousands of revolutions per minute. It is thus most important to ensure that they are lubricated in order to limit friction, in particular in bearings for supporting rotary parts. For that purpose, it is common practice to feed the bearings via lubricating ducts within the rotary parts they support.
When such a turbine engine has a plurality of bearings, it is normally appropriate to maintain a flow of lubricating fluid at a constant rate to each of the various bearings, independently of the speed of the engine, so that all of the bearings receive a sufficient flow of lubricating fluid. Nevertheless, when the bearings are fed with lubricating fluid via ducts in rotary parts, centrifugal forces can affect the distribution of lubricating fluid. There is thus a risk, at certain speeds, of a bearing being fed with too little lubricating fluid, while another bearing is fed with too much.